Recording device.



C. B. WATTLES.

RECORDING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED 11110.11, 1909.

Witnesses z/a, gf

CYRA BISSELL' WATTLES, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

RECORDING- DEVICE.

speeifwaan of Letters Patent.

Patented NOV. 19, 1912.

Application `tiled December 11, 1909. Serial No. 532,585.

To all whom it 'may concern:

Be it known that I, CYRA B. WATTLES, a citizen of the United States, residing at evidence, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Recording Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is an improvement in recording devices, and more especially in that type of device wherein the record is obtained by the chemical action of light upon a sensitized medium.

At the present time, there are in force in `certain localities, particularly in the larger cities, various statutes, laws, regulations, and the like,Federal and State, as well as municipal, which relate directly to what is known generally as the smoke nuisance. This surcharge of smoke, it has been discovered, is due primarily to the irregular firing of coal-burning furnaces. To correct this state of affairs, it is proposed to exercise a careful supervision over the stokers or firemen of obtaining a continuous record of the condition of a furnace, so to speak, throughout a given period of time, which record will indicate, upon inspection, not only the number of occasions on which the furnace has stoked during that period, but also the frequency and the time of such occasions, the production of a device for obtaining such a record being the object of the invention.

A structural embodiment ofthe invention in its simplest form is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, whereof j Figure 1 is a sectional perspective view showing the application of the invention, Fig. 2 1s an enlarged front elevation of the box wherein the record is made, and Fig. 3 is a detail vview on a still largerscale of one of the completed records.

Reference being hadto said drawings, and

to the numerals marked thereon, 1 indicates sired point in the chimney. To the exterior faces of the aforesaid walls, and directly proximal to said openings, there are secured the box 3 above mentioned, and a second box 6` the latter box having located therewit-hin the lighting medium 2 which, in

.the present instance, is constituted by an electric lampconnected up with a suitable dynamo, though any other kind of light having the requisite intensity may be substituted therefor if preferred.

That portion of the inner wall of box 3 which is exposed through the opening 4 has formed therein a pair of openings 7 and 8, one or the other of said openings, being designed to be closed by a shutter 9 which is mounted to slide in guide grooves 10 and 11 insaid` box wall, as shown in Fig. 2. This shutter may have any preferred size and shape, dependent upon circumstances, and guide means other than the grooves 10 and ,11 may beA employed in connection therewith. l

Through -the uncovered opening 7 or 8, the light-rays are adapted to strike agalnst a rotating member 12 mounted centrally upon the main arbor 13 of a clock-mechanism 14' of any preferred or conventional type. In the structure illustrated, the member 12 is in the form of a dial shown in detail in Fig. 3. The working face of this. dial has two concentric annuli 17 and 16 marked thereon, these annuli being each divided .into twelve equal parts or divisions by radial lines, \and each division in turn, into six or other numbersof sub-divisions The main divisions indicate hours, and the sub-divisions periods of ten minutes, more or less, according to the number of sub-divisions, in each division, this being true of both annuli. The inner annu- .lus, in the present instance, will therefore represent the hours from mid-night to noon, and the outer annulus the hours from noon to mid-night, the figures corresponding to these hours being marked on the face of the dial, as shown. The arrangementof these annuli with respect to the openings 7 and 8 is such that during the revolution of the dial caused by thatv of the clock arbor,

the surface of the inner annulus 17 will be exposed through the lower opening 7, while the surface of the outer annulus 16 will be exposed through the upper opening 8, it be; ing understood, however, that only one opening at a time isy uncovered, the position of lao the shutter being changed at noon and at mid-night. If, then, the surfaces of the two annuli be coated with any suitable sensitizing material, orotherwise rendered sensitive to light, it will` be apparent that that greatest when the furnace is freshly stoked,

and decreasing subsequent-ly until the furnace is again stoked.

The operation, therefore, is as follows: 'Ihe sensitized dial is attached to the clock arbor, and the mechanism thereof then started, after which the shutter is properly adjusted, and the light turned on. If the furnace be then stoked, the density of the smoke passing up the chimney will be sufficiently great to prevent its being penetrated by the light beams, and consequently that portion of the annulus which is exposed at such time through the corresponding opening 7 or 8 will be unaffected. The density of the smoke, however, gradually decreases, while at the same time the dial continues its rotation Consequently, as the working annulus passes the opening, its surface will gradually become acted upon by the light beams as the smoke becomes less dense, the extent of such action being greatest when the smoke is thinnest. When the furnace is again stoked, the then exposed portion of the annulus is again prevented from being acted upon by the increased density of the smoke. 'Ihe condition of the annulus at t-he end of one complete revolution of the dial will thus indicate with 'absolute accuracy not only the number of stokings the furnace underwent during that period, but also the exact time at which each stoking took place, it being an easy matter to determine from the relative position ofthe blanks on the annulus, (which indicate the stokings) with respect to each other, whether or not such stokings were at regular intervals apart, or at the times prescribed therefor. In Fig. 3, these blanks are designated by the numeral 18, while the more or less shaded portions 19 of the lannuli indicate the periods or intervals between the stokings, the extent of these portions being proportionate to the duration of the intervals.

Further description of the invention, its manner of operation, and its advantages is considered unnecessary in View of the foregoing.

I-Iaving thus described my invention, IV

alining openings in its opposite side walls,

a source of light to the rear of one of said openings, a vertically disposed sensitized disk having spaced concentric annuli and time divisions marked thereon, a box secured to one of the side walls of the chimney, and having a pair of spaced openings `located opposite the other'of said openings of the chimney, a clock 4in said box, said disk being connected to said clock so as to be rotated thereby, said box having guide grooves,

and a slide for engagement in either of the Y grooves to close one or the other of said box openings.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CYRA BISSELL WATTLES.

Witnesses:

ADA E. HAGERTY, J. A. MILLER. 

